1.  Play for the long run.

  • You are trying to change behaviour and learn new skills – that takes time and means that the training needs to be on-going and continuous. Ask any professional golfer!
  • Don’t look for “quick fixes” – like only “hooking” your training onto the annual sales conference. It will have a short term “feel good” impact and no lasting benefit.

2.  Don’t over-emphasize product knowledge

  • Make sure you don’t spend too much time on product training (as important as it is) at the expense of your actual selling skills and strategies.

3.  Measurement

  • Don’t measure results purely by looking at sales in dollar terms alone. While sales in dollars is the ultimate measurement – it’s just as important to measure the behaviours that get you there – such as appointments made and referrals obtained.

4.  Role Plays

  • If you’re teaching new skills – make sure that you “test” the new skills in a safe classroom environment. If you can’t do mock sales calls in a “safe” environment – you won’t be able to perform under pressure in a real world situation.

5.  New Hires

  • Make sure new hires get support from the very best and not some tired sales hack who will possibly pollute the “newbie”.

6.  Team Selling

  • Joint sales calls are a powerful way to get better results and are also a great way to see how someone handles himself or herself in a real live situation – providing the ideal coaching opportunity after the call.

Your sales training program should mean that your sales people never have to wing-it or guess what their next move should be. One of the truly most rewarding benefits of having a comprehensive selling system as part of an effective sales training program, is that the sales person should never be in a situation in which you don’t know what your next “move” should be.

No Manipulation or high-pressure tactics – just the truth as quickly as possible.

An effective selling system – as part of your sales training should provide you with the most efficient process to qualify prospects as quickly as possible without having to resort to manipulative or old fashioned “closing techniques”.